Das Leben der Anderen...

...is a good name for any blog posting when talking about what we are up to in another part of the world, because it means "The life of the others". It also happens to be the name of a German film that won an Oscar for best International Film or something like that. You can read more about the film here in Wikipedia.

Anyway, this film isn't showing in any of the mainstream cinemas anymore, as it already finished it's run here a long time before the Oscars. We had heard nothing of it then, and therefore didn't see it, so decided to catch it this time around. As I said, it's not in the major Cinema Complexes anymore, so we headed to a little cinema to watch it - which is always more fun, IMHO.

The closest Cinema to us that was showing it are the Panda/Kaskade cinemas in Bad Homburg. Now, there are a number of special things about these cinemas...

To start with, the cinemas aren't stand-alone, they are part of the Taunus Therme thermal baths complex that we have talked about before (Japanese-themed spa complex). The cinemas actually have a seperate entrance than the thermal baths, so they are kind of seperate...or are they?

The image here shows two distinct colours in the seating arangement - one purple, and one green. You can't see it very clearly, but between the two sections there is a barrier. Also, you can see at the back of the room that there is a door, but there is also just off-screen to the left another door. What does that all mean? Well, as I said, this cinema belongs to the spa complex, so there are two sections - one for the normal viewing public, and one for the people who are currently visiting the spa complex. Therefore, during the movie, the normally dressed people are sitting in the back, and the people in bathers, bath robes, etc. are sitting in the front. To the left of screen there is also a small are which has some sun chairs for ppl who would prefer to lie down to watch the film. Cool huh?

So, that was one of the rooms/screens in the cinema. I am not sure if ppl in bathers and stuff can go into the other cinema as well, but I assume so. But what is really "special" about the other cinema - and is described as special on their website - is that smoking is allowed in the cinema. B and I just can't believe this, and neither could the guy who was complaining to the cashier while B was out getting us some drinks. When Australia is around 95 days away from banning all smoking in bars and clubs, it is strange to see this kind of behaviour in Germany. We really are on the other side of the world...

And it is not just that smoking is allowed in the cinema - smoking advertising is still allowed here. They have banned it on TV, but it is still allowed in the movies. B pissed herself laughing (and quite loud) when an ad for Malborough Wides came on, saying things like "wider for more tobacco flavour", "wider for a better smoke" etc...and it was in English too. How about "in English to suck you in to thinking it is cool, and then wider for a faster more painful cancerous death"?!?!

Yeah, so...the film. Won't say too much about it, because you can read it yourself in the link that I gave you above. Suffice to say that this is a really good story about the East German Secret Police (Stasi) and how they spied on the East German people. The best part of this film is that it doesn't offer any real comment on "this was good" or "this was bad", but just tells the story, and let's you reach your own conclusions. In my opinion "this was bad", and it is amazing that a country could do this to it's people. If you get the chance, check it out.

Tschüß,
'Brush